Before and After with The Nik Collection

As we all know Google is pulling the plug on Google Reader. Nobody was particularly happy with that, nor was I. But thanks to Florinda and others I am now happily using Feedly and working on getting used to it.

When Google announced shutting down Reader I was nervous about their recent acquisition of Nik software. I only use one of their plug-ins for photography right now, but I planned on buying others. Or, all of them really at some point. The same day Google announced the Reader shutdown they also stated they are not going to update Snapseed for PC or Mac. I became doubly nervous then. I figured they were going to shutter all the Nik software stuff and replace it with something worse.

Well, today Google announced they are reducing the price for the entire bundle to $149, which is a great deal. They also said that if you had purchased any of the other plug-ins already you would receive an email telling you how to get the whole collection for free. That pretty much made my day. Now, I want to say this is not any sort of sponsored post. I was just really excited about this. Do I think Google will still keep this alive? I hope, butI don't know. I'm not sure how Topaz or onOne is going to respond to this. It's not too cool for them, that's for sure.

Anyway, since I downloaded it I thought I'd try them all out with a before and after photo. This was just a test and not a great photo, but it shows what the software can do. I really do recommend the new Nik Collection. Though I'm not a fan of the icons they use, but what can you do about that.

Before

After

Now, again, this isn't perfect, but just a quick tweaking I did with Viveza 2, Color Efex Pro 4 and Dfine 2. Although, the second photo is much closer to what Akaka Falls looked like in real life. So, go, buy, if you are into photography that is. If not, it's cheap enough to buy for a gift for someone you love, or just kind of tolerate.

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #91: Ready, Set...Go!

I wasn't sure what I'd have for this week's assignment, but I managed to get something. This week Carly wanted us to post something ready, set, or go. Or, all three if we wanted. Here's what I have for this week.

For Ready (maybe, set?), we have my son getting ready for a simulated match in fencing class.

For Go, we again have my son. This time he is on attack. He didn't like this one since he is cut off, but I like it myself. It seems more like a surprise, or something.

That's all I have this week. Go to Carly's site to check out the rest.

Have a great weekend!

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #86: Stairs

Wow, it's been a while since I've been able to participate in Carly's photo assignments, its good to be back.

This week Carly wanted some pictures of stairs. I didn't get to find any cool or ornate stairs, but I got something at least.

These were on the side of a bar. It's not too special, but there were some barrels on the wall that were neat. You can find them here.

Originally I wanted to get a picture of the sign, then I realized how many stairs there were. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out as well as I would have liked, but it's better than nothing.

Finally, there are these stairs. I liked the vines growing on the side of the wall as well.

That's all for this week. Go to Carly's to check out the other photos.

New Look!

I tried out one of the new templates from Blogger. What do you think? I was happy that I could find one that had a sun theme to keep with the name of the blog. It's not too bad. I'm sure I'll tweak it some more, but I don't have too much time. Jenn is already checking on me, making sure I get off the computer to get the kids in the shower while she's gone.

Speaking of Jenn, she and her friend Suzanne started a new blog about their adventures in training for a marathon. Jenn is training for the Chicago Marathon and Suzanne is running in the San Francisco Marathon, which makes sense since she lives there. Go check it out, tell them I sent you. This is Suzanne's first blog so make sure to tell her I said to say 'Hi.'

I've been a bad blogger lately, I know. It's been a busy time, as far as you know. I did take my first photography lesson this week. It was a three hour one-on-one session. I learned a lot about the basics of photography and how to make the camera do what I want it to do. When I get a chance to take another lesson I want to learn more about composition and stuff like that. But, this was the perfect start. I took the lesson from Russell Lowe who is a local professional photographer. He knows more about this than I can ever hope to, but he was good at making it easy for me to understand. If you are in the Chicago suburban area I highly recommend him for lessons or photography.

Okay, I really need to get the kids, and myself, cleaned up. Enjoy the last bit of the weekend!